I'm getting back up

Nike once said, "Just so it."

So I did.

Sitting on the couch today, still nursing this stupid cold and watching the Olympics, a new Nike commercial came on and asked, "When will you get back up?"

I realized that it's my own fault that I'm still sick. I've been babying this cold when instead, I should have been telling it who's boss.

My biggest mistake was not keeping up with the Board.

"The Board?" you ask.

Yes, The Board:

This week's training schedule

Each week I post my training plan to a dry erase board in my kitchen. It's partially to keep me on track and partially helps my husband keep track of me.

I neglected to write it out last week. It's a mistake I won't make again. I'm taking a firmer hand with the stuffy nose and coughing.

It's time for me to get back up.

~ Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. - John Maxwell

Training Schedule: Week of January 25th

I didn't learn my lesson last week. My goals are still ambitious.

So here's the game plan for next week:

Monday:

Body Pump

Tuesday:

30 minute run & Body Flow

Wednesday:

1 hour spin class

Thursday:

25 minute run & Body Pump

Friday:

OFF

Saturday:

1 hour coached swim

Sunday:

Biking of some sort

The Iowa weather is killing me. I'm itching for it to warm up so I can try out the clip in bike shoes that I got for Christmas.

I'm awaiting the falls from my bike as I forget that my feet are actually tethered to the pedals. I want to get them (yes, I'm fairly certain there will be more than one) out of the way so I can recover and get back to training.

Until the thaw begins, my steed shall be a stationary bike...

"Success is determined by how determined you are to succeed." ~Unknown

Spinning - yeah, right

Yeah, I know. I've talked about taking a spinning class for about five months now. I had good intentions, but I'll be honest, I was completely freaked out by the prospect.

A friend recently described spinning as "one of (her) favorite punishments" and noted that it can burn approximately 500 calories per half hour.

Determined to build up more strength for the bike event, I added a spinning class one night a week into my training schedule. It was time to conquer my fear.

Let me just say that it was everything that I had heard it would be.

We were about 15 minutes late to the start of class, but the instructor nicely hopped off her bike and got Andrea and myself set up on ours and then proceeded to "punish" us for being late.

She had us crank up the tension, climb out our saddles and run on the pedals for the entire length of a song. I don't remember the song, but I remember that it was annoyingly upbeat and seemed to go on forever.

And I don't know if I have ever worked out so hard before that I wanted to throw up. But those first ten minutes certainly made me want to. After the initial shock wore off, I actually started to enjoy it. Minus the fact that I was sweating buckets and I managed to empty my water bottle with 15 minutes still left in the class.

What I liked about it was the fact that, for the most part, the brutality usually changed about every 15 to 30 seconds (with the exception of the first long climb). I didn't have to count laps or the number of run intervals, watch the clock to know when to run.

The instructor took care of that for us, yelling at us to "go, go, go!" or "pick up the pace!" She would pleasantly remind us that we were not in rest period. She would give us a rest period in approximately X minutes, which always equaled the end of the class.

It was another challenge. Another fear conquered.

I'll be back at next week's class.